SEO and Accessibility becoming more aligned

In August Google announced more changes to their Google algorithms. With the huge increase in people using mobile devices to browse the internet, Google are continuing to ensure their search comes up with quality websites, as a result sites are being penalised if they do not work well on mobile devices.

One issue on websites displayed on mobiles which is annoying as a user and can create a complete show stopper for people using assistive technology is pop-ups and interstitials – which take focus from the page, force a user to take an action like signing up to a newsletter or close them before they can continue viewing the main web pages content.

Many of these pop ups that we find when auditing are not keyboard accessible, often the focus doesn’t go to the pop up, so a screen reader user isn’t aware it is there. It can cause issues for screen magnifier users trying to pinch and zoom and ultimately it disrupts the user journey for the benefit of the marketers, not the user.

There are however some exceptions to this new rule, for cookies and age consent but also smaller banner ads that do not fill the page. It is still important to make sure that if you use pop-ups for these reasons to ensure they are still accessible, after all, if you are changing to comply with Googles SEO algorithms to ensure more visitors find your website, you want to make sure your website is then accessible to all that have found you.

At Dig Inclusion, we can check any pop-ups on your website through our help desk service if you want to ensure any changes you make are accessible for people with disabilities across all devices.